Lucky 8? But US$1,000 price tag may dampen iPhone sales in China

Apple Inc. is expected to launch iPhone 8 on Tuesday, and hopes the number’s auspicious connotations in China will help turn around fortunes in the world’s biggest smartphone market after six quarters of falling sales, Reuters reports.

Chinese shoppers, however, are already counting the cost, with the latest model tipped to have a price tag upward of US$1,000 – roughly double the average Chinese monthly salary, the news agency said.

However, the Guardian newspaper said the latest iPhone will be called the iPhone X, citing a leak over the weekend.

The name of the phone was first reported by the Apple news website 9to5Mac, which also reported that two other new phones would be called the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, the newspaper said.

Reuters said the success of Apple’s next iPhone in China is crucial for the Cupertino, California-based firm, which has seen its once-coveted phone slip into fifth position in China behind offerings from local rivals Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi Inc.

Greater China, which for Apple includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, accounted for roughly 18 percent of iPhone sales in the quarter ended in July, making it the company’s top market after the United States and Europe.

Yet those sales have been declining steadily and are down 10 percent from a year earlier, in contrast with growth in all other regions.

And the iPhone’s share of China’s smartphone shipments fell to 9 percent in January-June, down from 14 percent in 2015, according to data from consultancy Counterpoint Research.

While the iPhone 6 took China by storm in 2014, models since have received a more muted response.

Chen said she might even wait for the new phone’s successor, when prices will fall. “It’s a nice number to hear, but there’s no rush.”

Eight is the luckiest number in China because it sounds similar to the phrase meaning “to get rich”.

“Apple really needs to launch a very innovative product this time around,” said Mo Jia, Shanghai-based analyst at Canalys. However, the rising clout of local rivals would nevertheless make life tough for the US firm, he said. “It has its work cut out.”

The iPhone 7 suffered from the perception that it was too similar to earlier models. This time, despite talk of wireless charging, advanced touch screen and facial recognition technology, Chinese netizens have yet to replicate the online mania around previous iPhone launches.

Mentions of “iPhone 8” on popular Chinese social media platform Weibo – an indicator of consumer interest – were running slightly ahead of the similar period before the iPhone 7 launch, but were far more muted than with the iPhone 6.

Apple declined to comment on the new phone, price or supply.

One effect of Apple’s costliest phone to date will be the rise of sales on credit.

Wang Yang, who runs a bricks-and-mortar smartphone store in Beijing’s largest tech market, told Reuters he expected more purchases online this time, as consumers make payments by instalment.

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